Little-Known Firms Tracking Data Used in Credit Scores, the Washington PostThe firms who help put together credit scores have access to a surprising amount information about our lives, but they aren’t held to much scrutiny themselves. This article sheds light on what they do, and the regulatory vacuum they exist in. Contributed by @nfkpdx

Freedom from Pain, Al Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera examines why it’s so difficult for people in countries around the world to gain access to pain killers like morphine.Submitted via email by Sophia Qureshi

Universities or Visa Mills? the San Jose Mercury NewsUnaccredited universities in California are bringing thousands of international students to the United States with the promise they can get them student visas—a promise they don’t actually have the ability to keep.Contributed by @sdutWatchdog

Blood in the Water, Outside magazineA disturbing pattern of whale-trainer deaths raises questions about how marine parks should operate.Contributed by @longreads

Sloppy Investigation of Sloppy Investigation in Bailey Case, New America MediaAfter Bay Area journalist Chauncey Bailey was murdered in 2007, a group of journalists banded together to finish the investigation he’d been working on. Now some of those reporters are documenting flaws in the two inquiries into the Oakland police’s handling of the case.Contributed by @ProPubPR